My Enigmatic Life

   After finishing up our official enlistment as an Enigma Squadron, we all gather together at Sunni’s place to chill and talk about what we could expect from our new job. However, Yonaguni’s rousing words of encouragement have left a bitter taste in our mouths. The silence is incredibly heavy, to the point where no one feels that they should break it. 

“I’m sorry, everyone.”

Finally someone speaks, and it’s Akai.

“Yonaguni-senpai is right…I’m weak. I can only beat the training dummy, and even then that’s only seven times out of ten.”

“Same for me.”, Naoya adds abjectly. “Maybe that bastard’s right, we are pathetic.”

I’m not going to stand for them getting so miserable. I have to say something.

“Listen, you two. Don’t let what that git said get to you. He’s been praying on our downfall since day one, after all.”

“That’s right!”, Akane affirms. “We can’t let someone like him get us down!”

“Yeah, Yonaguni totes hates having to compete for the affection of girls. He thinks that he should have it all.”, Haruhi-san adds.

That’s putting it lightly.

“There’s plenty of room for improvement, you two.”, Sunni says with a kind, but slightly stern tone. “And that applies to all of us.”

The atmosphere is getting noticeably lighter, and now conversation is beginning to flow more naturally. Yoko, who’s sat at my right side, pulls out her E.I.D card from her denim pocket and observes it.

“There’s no need to worry about the strength of our opponents for now, at least.”, she says. “Shade and his Mid-Night Fox gang don’t seem to be after Aniki for now, and since we’re only ranked Green, I doubt that we’ll be going on any real arduous missions.”

Naoya looks relieved now that he’s received some assurance, but Akai is still unsure of himself. Gege notices this just like me and speaks up.

“Oi, Akai. You learned how to fortify yourself with mana in five minutes, didn’t you?”

Akai nods slowly. He doesn’t realise how impressive that is, does he?

“Well, there it is. You managed to do something that impressive. You even surprised Yonaguni.”

“I did?”, Akai asks, astonished. 

“I think I remember Papa telling me something about things like that. Please excuse me for a moment.”

Sunni promptly gets up and leaves the room. In about a minute, she returns with a small book.

“Here it is. “

She turns the book around to show us its cover which reads in big letters ‘The Mana Triad and How it Works’, and the author is Uncle Halman. I don’t recall ever hearing about that. Sunni flips open the book and begins to read aloud.

“‘The Mana Triad is the name given the three basic concepts of mana usage. Those concepts are as follows: Detection, Reinforcement and Charging.’“

We already know about reinforcing ourselves, but this Detection and Charging is new to me. Although, it’s not too difficult to discern what they’re about.

“Detection speaks for itself, but how does Charging work?”, Naoya asks. 

“It’s just the natural ability of self-restoring one’s mana supply.”, Sunni answers. “Here’s what I was looking for: ‘In some cases, certain people are born with a knack for these concepts, with even those who know nothing about mana or Magic being able to subconsciously use them.’.”

Using them subconsciously, eh? Does that mean…

“Akai-san, didn’t you say that you were able to suddenly fight the power to beat the training dummy before?”, Yoko asks.

“Yeah..I did.”

“Then that explains how you mastered it so quickly.”, Gege surmises. “You were already using it before without realising it.”

“See, onii-chan? You could do something that other people couldn’t. So don’t mind what Yonaguni says too much.”, Akane says with a warm smile.

“Yeah, maybe you guys are right.”

Akai's typical wry smile appears on his face, signalling that he’s feeling more like himself now.

“Daisuke-san, what’re you thinking about?”

“Hm?”

Haruhi-san notices that I’m a bit lost in thought and points it out, getting everyone’s attention. I’d best clear things up before they get the wrong idea. 

“Oh, I’m just taking a shot in the dark here, but Detection has to deal with picking up mana, right?”

“That’s right.”, Sunni nods.

“Then I think I may have the same knack that Akai does, just for Detection. There have been these times when I can pick up somebody’s presence at random.”

“How many times has this happened?”, Gege asks.

“Four.”, I answer immediately. “One time was when I sensed Saito’s lackeys, another was when that big oaf Sanemi tried to kill me, another was with Yonaguni. But the very first time I did was when Yoko got lost twelve years ago.”

Yoko blinks. Naoya laughs out loud, amused

“That’s how you found her, Govvy? Thinking about it now, it makes sense seeing as to how badly she got lost.”

“Yeah I remember. She was really scared, so then I decided to make the promise that I would always be there for her, no matter what happens to me. And she promised the same.

Yoko blinks again, slowly turning to me.

“So you did remember?”

“Of course.”, I smile. “It was a bit hazy at first, but there’s no way I could forget something so important.”

Yoko jubilantly hugs me, blatantly chuffed.

“Oh, Aniki! You’re the best!”

“You know…what you said sounded like a marriage proposal, Daisuke.”, Akai muses.

“I was thinking the same thing, Akai!”, Naoya agrees fervently.

“He planned this all from the beginning. What a sly dog.”, Gege says, acting ashamed.

As per usual, my mates are keeping things low-key. I appreciate it, really.

“Daisuke-san was just a kid, you three. Stop picking on him.”

Haruhi-san graciously comes to my rescue, but it’s too late.

“Govvy, how come you’ve never promised to do that from me?”, Sunni questions me, donning her fake smile.

“He hasn’t for me either!”, Akane complains. “I call bias! Bias!”

How is that my fault, damn it? Good gosh….